As I have had enquiries about the larger tip panels for the "Watts Up", if you require the rib profiles for the 3.1 metre version, PM me for address, then send an A4 SAE & I will send back copies of the profiles.

Update

Received this E Mail that I thought might be of use to other builders of "Watts Up" My reply is underneath

I hope you don’t mind me contacting you.

A group of five of us in the Solihull club have obtained plans and laser cut kits for your model and we may see all five in height limited electric soaring next year. We also have copies of the magazine build article.

I have a few observations/queries.

There is no mention of sheeting thickness for the inner and second sections. I assume light 1/16 will be good. The outer sections are 1/32.
The inner wing section of the plan turns out as 36.2 inches. Clearly this is a quirk in plan production. We are building to about 35.8 to allow us to tidy the ends of 36 material.
You talk about wing spar webs but give no clues about what to use in the inner section. Does light/medium 1/16 balsa sheet sound OK (grain vertical)? I might use 1/32 for the outer sections to avoid procuring foam.
I intend to use 3/8x1/2 strip for the wing LE. This will be packed up with glued-on scraps of sheet (1/16 or so) at each rib. Does this sound OK?
A small point is that the tailplane ribs are said in the plan to be 3/32x1/8 while the magazine says 1/16x1/8. We are using 3/32.
I am procuring the non-laser wood parts for the whole group. I attach a document including a table of materials. This might help you or Traplet if there are queries from others.

We bring a wide range of experience to this project from regular modern builder to nothing but foamy ARTF. My experience is rusty. I was into design and build of FF gliders and rubber power up to 1958 and came back in 2008. I have built a 5ft and 6ft electric glider (both from kits) but the engineering of bigger models might be a challenge. So far we all seem to like what we see in Watts Up although one of the group is going for a V-tail and at least two will put the tail servos in the pod.

We intend to start comp flying with a club event for the 5 of us on 10 April 2010. You would obviously be welcome to join us and see what goes on.

I would be happy to keep in touch if you are interested.

Tony

Hi Tony
Thanks for pointing out the points you outline.
I thought that the Mag was going to redraw the plan to give two sheets with the wing ribs & the starboard wing tips printed out, but they chose to just print it as I submitted it. I seldom draw both wing panels for myself, due to a bad experience years ago when another plan was so far out, that they did not match. So now I just reverse the plan & spray some oil on it to make the lines show through.

In answer to your queries :-
(1) Yes I missed that out, so they never checked it out either, the sheeting is 1/16" on centre & inner tip panels.

(2) Does the wing chord check out at 10" on the centre Panel? If so that is the correct size. The original used standard sheet of 36" with the bare minimum taken off to clean up to length.

(3) The webbing on the centre panel is vertical grain 3/8" sheet, to match spar width. You can use what you like but recommend the foam in fill as it is light easy to work with. Try some building sites or builders that you might know to acquire some. You can place it in position leaving any excess on the rear of the spar, then when you have built the wing, the excess can be removed with a razor blade, level with the spars. It also makes the panels more rigid.

(4) What you have suggest with the LE is fine to save on wood. I cut my LE from 3/8" sheet to the height required.

(5)Yes should be 3/32", not 1/16". BTW on the tail plane, bring the carbon sheet reinforcement shown on the inside of LE further out than shown as my original cracked here, but not at the back that was longer span wise

(6) Yes that would be useful. Some one has brought to my attention that there are no parts lasered out for the laminated wing retaining block, where the bolt goes through. To be fair I did not think they were going to cut so many parts as they have.

Finally if you go to this site below, you can get a feel for the way the model came into being from a previous one. Scroll down the page for English translation.
Although Ray Pavely originated the Alacrity, then I altered it around, he did not have anything to do with the "Watts Up", I just used some of his ideas as they were superior to how I built up to that time.

I would have used a V tail but a lot of flyers advised against it, but I like them to save weight.

I usually mount them by inserting a piece of 1/4" light ply in side the boom vertically, then attach the V tail underneath so as the boom sits in the V of the tail plane. Then drill two hole through the boom & ply of say3-4mm(M3-M4 nylon bolts) to retain it. Use ball links on top of tail to drive elevators via snakes using a light inner drive such as fibreglass cable rather than steel. Plastic drives can expand & shrink with heat & cold giving poor trim settings.

an update

Sorry I have not been posting many photos or progress. Things are really busy at work and getting photos in daylight of the airframe is impossible at the moment.

Progress is that I have finished the fuz and it is now sprayed and awaiting installation of the loom and connecting up the servos. The wing tips are covered and I need to cover the inner panel and install the loom and fix the interface connector.

I will be at the BARCS Soaring Market Tomorrow 6th December,(see Flyquiet site for details of venue) if anyone is there who may need any questions answered, plus will have the model with me, to explain in detail if required. Also can bring some of the 3.1 wing profiles with me, for anyone who is building the larger version.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fen Tiger View Post
Anyone else got any way into their build?

After seeing the original model fly with the large wing I decided to build this version. I'm used to flying models of this span with flaps and ailerons so I intend to incorporate these into the build. With this in mind I have reduced the dihedral from 4 to 2 degrees. All 5 panels are built but the flaps and ailerons have not yet been cut off. I had trouble finding foam for the webs so used vertical grain balsa going from 3/8 in the centre section stepping down to 1/8 in the fourth bay in the tip panel. The boom I got from a local fishing shop, an Abu Garcia Siesta 500 5 metre roach pole, at the time of purchase about £11.

I will be at the BARCS Soaring Market Tomorrow 6th December,(see Flyquiet site for details of venue) if anyone is there who may need any questions answered, plus will have the model with me, to explain in detail if required. Also can bring some of the 3.1 wing profiles with me, for anyone who is building the larger version.

I'll catch up with you tomorrow Brian. Team South Lincs Soarers will be there, transported by me in the camper van. You will have to drop by for a cuppa and a doughnut

Cutting Ribs

Various people who are building this model have asked me how I cut the ribs for the extended wing tip panels. Basically I print the profiles then paste them on to the 3/32" sheet, using Prit Stick & cut round the outline required with a Swan Morton knife. Where the spar position is, I cut across to join up with the LE sheeting line at an angle, to release from the sheet. At the front, just bring the cuts together of top & bottom.
The spar slots are cut to suit on fitting ribs, whilst the front is cut level to the printed LE radius shown. This is used as the datum when fitting ribs, & TE area is cut to suit TE that is pinned down.
The paper can be removed before glueing into position by applying heat with a heat gun & pealing off.
Ribs shown are not for the Watts Up but another project that i am working on.